1832.] Affairs in General. 227 



at present the affair is quite a secret. We are promised an early copy 

 for notice in our next number. 



DRAMAS TO ORDER A copy of Mr. Jerrold's Bride of Ludgate, has 

 been forwarded to us ; we have,, in another place, given our opinion of 

 its merits : our present observations relate to the remarks prefixed to the 

 drama., in which the system, which has rendered our large theatres 

 contemptible, is aptly touched upon. 



"The fate of the dramatist is peculiarly hard. If he succeed in penetrating 

 the almost impenetrable phalanx of ' puny green-room wits and venal bards who, 

 for a playhouse freedom, sell their own,' that environ the ' great lessee' nay, if 

 the word ' accepted' greet his ear, let him not vainly imagine that his difficulties 

 are at an end. There is a back-stairs influence, a power behind the throne, to 

 be counteracted and overcome. Time was, when every showman was master of 

 his own puppets ; but now, as the ' medicin malgre lui' said of the heart being 

 once on the left side, and the liver on the right, the college (the march of intel- 

 lect !) have ordered it otherwise. Every puppet is his own manager ! The play- 

 wright must propitiate, flatter, and succumb to actors ! To transmit a drama 

 direct to head-quarters is an unpardonable breach cf theatrical etiquette ; Mr. 

 Jenkins must first glance his eye over it, to see if every character be made subor- 

 dinate to his monopolizing ascendancy. If the parts run tolerably equable and 

 dull, and the interest centre solely in himself, if he stand no possible chance of 

 being defrauded of a single clap from some fugitive Joe Miller, surreptitiously 

 put into the mouth of a lesser or greater droll, he issues his veto that the name 

 of Mr. Jenkins may be advertised in the bills ! But, if the inexperienced author, 

 calculating on the company's capabilities, kindly bounteous, care for all, forth- 

 with he seizes his critical tomahawk, lops off the redundances, and what he 

 appropriates not to his particular use, like a loathsome weed, indignantly casts 

 away. This mutilation of his scenes the playwright must submit to, if he would 

 enlist the mirth-moving shrugs and grimaces of Mr. Jenkins. 



This picture is as disheartening as it is true. However, let us hope 

 that dramatic free-trade will ultimately remedy these abuses. We 

 know not how far the statement may apply to particular actors we 

 relate only what we have heard which is this ; that when Farren 

 read the above extract he asked his brother the pundit of the 

 Assurance Office " Whether an action would not lie ' against the 

 publisher of the libel. We are not yet enabled to give the fraternal 

 answer. 



REMARKABLE CONFESSION. Mr. Hood imagines Eugene Aram to 

 relieve his burthened conscience, by telling the tale of his crime to one 

 of his pupils, as a dream. As if to exemplify the truth of this conception, 

 a weekly contemporary, not in any other respect like Eugene Aram, has 

 in like manner made confession of himself by advertisement, in guise of 

 the reprobation of others. The unhappy man says 



" The noise of impudence and quackery is so loud in the press, that a 

 calm elevation of voice only once a year, may be excused in those who 

 are never egotistic, or combative at any other time." New Year's Address 

 of the Literary Gazette. 



Thus he feels conscious, that he is not one of these privileged to speak, 

 as the grotto boys beg, " only once a year," and he is compelled to this 

 expedient to obtain a hearing of his confession. 



Pretending to speak of the press, but really describing the Literary 

 Gazette, he observes 



"'It twines itself into so many folds proceeds upon so many hidden 



Q 2 



